The prior art includes several devices for winding and/or locking tubular containers in order to assist in the dispensing of the materials contained therein. See e.g., Campbell, U.S. Pat. No. 2,570,204; Meyer, U.S. Pat. No. 3,291,344; Kahlow, U.S. Pat. No. 3,303,969; Namdari et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,251; Elias et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,314; Pearson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,645; Curtis, U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,771; Yanagisawa, U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,014; and Lee, U.S. Pat. No. 5,642,839.
As can be seen from the art, it has long been recognized that a distinct desideratum has existed for simplifying the extrusion of contents from a collapsible tube or like container (hereafter, "tube/container") by squeezing and winding-up the tube/container. Several devices, albeit complex, have been disclosed (see the above-cited references, for example) which provide for the squeezing and/or winding of a tube/container associated therewith. Moreover, the art also teaches that it is desirable to somehow maintain the wound portion of the tube/container in its wound-up disposition to prevent the migration or regression of the material contents backwards within the tube into the evacuated once-wound portion of the tube. This thereby alleviates the frustration of having to re-squeeze, re-wind and thereby re-empty the once-wound portion over and over again to fully dispense the contents from the tube/container. It also avoids when appropriate, the introduction of atmospheric elements into the tube with consequent possibly deleterious reactions with the principal contents. Hence, when a tube portion is squeezed and wound tight upon a spindle, the contents of that portion having been discharged therefrom, it is then advantageous to be able to lock the tube/container in this wound-up disposition and prevent content regression. It is primarily toward this desideratum that the present invention is directed.